With a greatly reduced number of members we set off for the Sheffield area of the East Pennine koi club. It is a great shame that more members do not take part in the pond visit’s as they are super day out for all things KoiKichi.

Pond 1. Was owned by Mick Davison, a rectangular pond of 3800gallons which from an aerated bottom drain is fed to a 4ft vortex and further filtered by 2 more vortex’s which have been converted to fluidised K1, the overall result is superb water quality, That the numerous koi of size and age enjoy.Mick’s latest additions to the garden are 2 Japanese lanterns which look the business along side the pond.We all enjoyed the Bacon and Sausage sandwiches that were on offer, to set us up for the day.

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Pond 2.Is a pond owned by Stuart Effendi, as a new member to the East Pennine koi club this is the first time he has opened his pond for a club visit. Situated in a very pretty garden the pond of 1500 gallons was home to some very lively koi, the pond and filter system was very neatly constructed, using a large vortex and a multibay filter.The green house holds a QT system which is being used to grow on some small koi.Along with the Chicken’s and the Veg patch, I think Stuart has his hands full.

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Dealer Visit 1.Quite an unusual aspect of the day was a visit to a Koi Dealership.Kitsu Koi is run by Graham and Chris and they are members of the East Pennine Koi Club.Some fine Koi were on show, which tempted one of our members to purchase 2 koi.1 a nice hybrid Kohaku and an Asagi, which are to be delivered to the final venue for the journey home.

Pond 3.This pond belongs to John and Lorna Cooper, the pond measures 24ft long by 9ft wide and holds 4500 gallons, filtered by a vortex and 8ft multibay, a recently added set of Bakki showers has the water quality absolutely superb, some real quality Gosanke were in evidence.Johns latest project is a 1200 gallon QT system in a poly tunnel with a home made shower and easy pod as filtration.

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Pond 4.Belongs to Mick Maloney an irregular shape pond of 4500 gallons.This is filtered by a vortex and a Nexus 300 which is returned to pond down a superb waterfall.This is the first time Mick has opened his pond for a visit, always a daunting prospect. Thanks, Mick we really enjoyed it.

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Dealer Visit 2.Koi Plus was recently taken over by Ian and his family, the 2 large stock tanks currently use the new Ozone units.The good dry goods shop was well stocked with various Koi foods and treatments.

Pond 5.Is owned by Wayne and Joe Bond, this is situated in a very pretty garden. The pond is made with beautiful Indian stone, which hold 3200 gallons a bottom drain feeds a Nexus 200 this is returned via a 55UV through mid water returns, Ian latest project is a QT in his shed growing on some baby Koi.

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MealWe were then treated to a traditional Yorkshire meal of Pie and Peas, which was enjoyed by all, in fact a couple of members who will not be mentioned had second’s.The raffle was then drawn, with NWKC securing most of the prizes, even a Garden Gnome managed to find its way back to North Wales.!!!

On behalf of North Wales Koi, I would like to thank the East Pennine Koi Club for their hospitality and hope we can reciprocate on the return visit.

Foot note:The Koi that one of our members purchased earlier in the day arrived in the usual Koi Box, the only thing he had not thought of there was no room in the car for them.So they had to be de-boxed and travelled back to North Wales on his knee LOL.